Sunday, September 2, 2012

Nice Ending

Dane De La Rosa’s fourth pitch to the Knight’s catcher Josh Phegley was a strike, and Phegley knew it. He swung. He missed. The 2012 season of the Bulls at the DBAP was over.

Yes, the Bulls have two more games to play and I’ll be doing some more charts and graphs and summing up. But, unless I decide to go to that AAA National Championship game, that was the last baseball action I’ll see at the DBAP this year. Very likely the last time on the DBAP grass for a lot of the Bulls and Knights as well.

I am a die-hard Alexander Torres skeptic, but after a slightly shaky start last night, he was brilliant. It was easily his best game of the 26 he’s appeared in this year: 10 Ks, 1 walk (!), only 3 hits. He simply had the Knights in his hand. As a fan I personally appreciate Charley Montoyo taking Torres out of the game after his 2 K’s at the top of 6th because it gave all of us a chance to show our appreciation as Torres walked off the field. Mr. Torres has had some awful experiences on the mound this year, but it certainly looks like his trip to Florida for the month of August fixed something (for details, see Adam Sobsey’s account at the Indy Week link). He’ll have some time to keep working on whatever he’s been working on. Will he be the pitcher so many think he can be next year? We’ll see.

Ryan Reid got the win. That gives me a chance to thank him for his work this year. Something of an everyman for the Bulls: 46 appearances, 79 innings, decent ERA, a couple of spot starts, no trips to the DL. And I love that distinctive pitching motion of his.

Frank De Los Santos had part of an inning, then Dane De La Rosa came in for his 20th save. Together, Bulls pitching accumulated 15 strikeouts, the best 9-inning performance of the year.

Meanwhile, to give him his due, Charlotte’s Charles Shirek pitched a very solid eight innings, saving the Knight’s bullpen for the playoffs. He only made two mistakes: a walk to Cole Figueroa and a pitch to Brooks Conrad that was crushed over the right field wall, scoring the only runs of the game.

All was well at the DBAP last night. If the season had to end, and it did, it ended with interesting baseball. What more could we ask for?